ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Innovation and forward repair capabilities will be critical to the Army aviation enterprise as the service prepares for large-scale combat operations, a senior leader said.

In remarks at a recent Hot Topic on Army aviation hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army, Maj. Gen. Lori Robinson, commanding general of Army Aviation and Missile Command, pointed out that the supply chain for aviation parts is still experiencing delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020.

Last year, a small cadre of Army maintenance specialists was dispatched from the service's depot in Corpus Christi, Texas, to perform a complex repair on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter based in South Korea. The work took 13 days, rather than the 220 estimated to ship it back to the U.S. for repairs. The savings: An estimated $2 million.

Industry partners will be essential to supporting Army large-scale combat operations in a contested environment, said Gen. Charles Hamilton, commander of Army Materiel Command.

Speaking March 13 at a breakfast hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army as part of its Coffee Series, Hamilton called on industry to help the Army sustainment community meet one of the service’s top priorities—the delivery of ready combat formations.

Gen. Charles Hamilton, commanding general of Army Materiel Command, will speak March 13 as part of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Coffee Series.

The event will take place at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The event opens at 6:30 a.m. with registration, coffee and networking. The program is scheduled to begin at 7:15 a.m.

Faced with an increasingly contested operating environment, the Army is working to deliver precision sustainment and incorporate autonomous vehicles for resupply missions.

“Everybody agrees that we’ve got to get after logistics in this contested environment,” said Rob Watts, deputy director of Army Futures Command’s Contested Logistics Cross-Functional Team.

Speaking Feb. 7 during an Association of the U.S. Army Hot Topic on contested logistics, Watts said the Contested Logistics Cross-Functional Team’s first “priority effort” is predictive logistics.

Protection, deception and masking are key investments the Army must make as it works to ensure it can get to the fight—and stay in the fight—on a complex modern battlefield, according to the author of a new Association of the U.S. Army paper.

In “Contested Logistics: A Primer,” Lt. Col. Amos Fox writes that contested logistics are not a “new wrinkle of modern warfare.” Instead, it’s an issue that planners, strategists and industry have wrestled with “throughout the depth and breadth of armed conflict.”